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Hollywood Doppelgängers

Hollywood has absolutely no faith in audiences. If they think you liked something, they’re so overanxious to play it safe that they’ll sell it to you twice. We’ve had twin movies as far back as memory serves: movies that have near-identical plots and are essentially the same right down to their release dates. Wyatt Earp & Tombstone. Dante’s Peak & Volcano. Armageddon & Deep Impact. Antz & A Bug’s Life. Infamous & Capote. And on and on. The interesting thing though is that we don’t just have twin movies, we have twin stars too. Hollywood thinks we like familiar things. Familiar faces. And of course, plastic surgeons can only make so many noses. Everyone wants the Liv Tyler lips and the Salma Hayek tits. We can’t be surprised when they come off the assembly line looking a little too similar.

Javier Bardem and Jeffrey Dean Morgan: are they actually the same person?

43 thoughts on “Hollywood Doppelgängers”

Not really. One studio gets wind of another one developing a script, maybe they even caught a glimpse of it at some point: if it sounds like a hit, it’s worth copying. And then there’s a rush to see who can do it first.

Yes you’re right, I hate when I can’t tell characters apart. Amy Adams and Isla Fisher are about to co-star together as well in a movie called Nocturnal Animals. I believe Matt is seeing it at TIFF (jealous!) so Matt, you’ll have to chime in.

I know. I watched Spanglish going back and forth – Cruz or not Cruz? (I didn’t know Vega then). Actually another couple that confused me: Liv Tyler and Michelle Monaghan!
For the longest time I couldn’t keep the redheads straight.

It’s uncanny, isn’t it? Another pair that look like they could be brother and sister are Tyne Daly and Bruce McGill: http://cheezburger.com/4362458624 In fact, I assumed they were until I googled it! (Such a great use of my time, I know.)

A lot of “Breaking Bad” fans referred to Jesse Plemmons as “Meth Damon”.
The phenomenon of Hollywood repackaging the same thing was something I noticed as a kid and had confirmed when I met a scriptwriter who told me it was not a coincidence that Bull Durham, Field Of Dreams, and Major League all came out so close to each other.
When American Pie was a success The Onion had a short article about how Hollywood was rushing to make movies about people fucking desserts. I can’t find it now but I’ve never forgotten that one of the “upcoming films” was “Boston Cream”, starring Denis Leary “as a baker with a secret ingredient you won’t believe”.
Actually I wish I could forget that.

I must be drunk again. I kept seeing double all the way through this post.

The most confusing case of actor similarity I ever saw was watching Susan Sarandon in the movie “Clue” for an hour and a half (or whatever), and then finding out at the end that I’d actually been watching a British actress called Lesley Ann Warren. They looked very similar.